[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 67 (Monday, April 25, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E397]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





 WHY ALL AMERICANS SHOULD OPPOSE AN ATF NOMINEE WHO WANTS TO BAN THEIR 
                         RIGHT TO SELF-DEFENSE

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. PAUL A. GOSAR

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, April 25, 2022

  Mr. GOSAR. Madam Speaker, I oppose the nomination of Steve Dettelbach 
to Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives 
(ATF).
  Our right to meaningful self-defense, and the concomitant right to 
bear arms, was so important to the Founders that it preceded the right 
to due process, a speedy trial, and reasonable bail. That is how 
dangerous the Founders knew a tyrannical government could become. In 
order to protect those constitutional rights and those in the First 
Amendment--the right to speech, press, and assembly--citizens must have 
the means to do so.
  And this right is not protected by the Constitution alone. It--and 
the very closely related right of self-defense--is a civil right as 
well--or a right that serves to guarantee America's foundational tenet 
of equality under the law.
  All of President Biden's recent actions point to a very simple goal--
he wants our guns. By taking our guns, he takes our right to self-
defense. Coming at a time when crime is at record levels in most 
democrat-run cities, self-defense is not a theoretical discussion. The 
news is filled daily with citizens being attacked, raped, assaulted, 
maimed or otherwise hurt by assailants. Good people have the right and 
duty to defend themselves and their family. And, we have seen 
government overreach as well--tyrannical tendencies by the Biden Regime 
to imprison its political opponents and political dissidents. Currently 
almost 800 Americans have been arrested, many denied bail, for 
trespassing and other minor violations relating to January 6th, even 
though the favored criminals of the regime who looted, burned and 
murdered in the name of racial justice in 2020 walked away Scot free.
  In a country that has enshrined the right to self-defense, the mere 
existence of the ATF is anathema to the Constitution. We have no 
government agency running roughshod over newspapers and radio stations 
seeking to ``constrain'' and ``limit'' the First Amendment. We have no 
government agency cracking down on the unbridled expectation and right 
to be secure in one's possessions. But we do have the ATF, whose 
mission is to violate a constitutional right.
  The ATF recently and cleverly changed the definition of machine gun 
so that more guns would be considered illegal. ATF was caught red-
handed recently compiling a registry of gun owners--an action 
explicitly contrary to federal law. And the DOJ just decided to 
serialize thousands and thousands more firearms and expand the registry 
already approaching one billion records.
  The Biden administration wants there to be as big a paper trail as 
possible against those wishing to exercise their constitutional right. 
And we know the ATF is making lists of gun owners who made legal 
purchases--and just announced plans to expand that list. Why would they 
need all this information? Because with more information, the easier it 
is to confiscate. The easier it is to blacklist. Citizens who oppose 
the regime have been added to secret lists in the hopes of prohibiting 
gun ownership. Without charges. Without a trial. And usually without 
notice. All of these ATF abuses are unconstitutional.
  If Biden were serious about violent crime, he would be funding our 
police officers and rebuking Soros district attorneys for aiding and 
abetting violent criminals. Over 33 percent of first-time gun buyers in 
2021 were women. Guns allow women to stand up to criminals who would 
otherwise overpower them.
  The cure to rampant violent crime is well known by criminologists. 
Enforce the law. Every time. Throw violent thugs in jail for decades. 
Throw drug dealers in jail. For decades. Federal laws that did this in 
the 1990's worked wonders in reducing crime. The problem of violence is 
not an inanimate object. It is not a gun, a knife or a car that is to 
blame. It is always, always, in every instance, the operator of the 
gun, the knife or the car. Inanimate objects have no free will or 
ability to commit crimes. It is long past time we stop pretending they 
do. People are responsible for their own violent actions. The millions 
of law-abiding gun owners shall not be punished for the transgressions 
of the violent minority.
  I am pursuing legislation in many areas to protect our right to 
defend ourselves from government. As the purpose of ATF's existence is 
to harass and criminalize gun ownership, it must be eliminated. I also 
support bills that codify a federal right to self-defense, prohibit the 
administration from criminalizing many legal guns owned by Americans 
for decades through crafty and illegal regulatory maneuvers, defund 
federal attempts to prop up state registries of gun ownership, and 
nullify all ATF regulations approved by this gun-grabbing 
administration.
  The ATF nominee Dettelbach is of the apparent opinion that guns have 
free will and he blames the guns for violence. He is thus in favor of 
disarming as many people as possible. I have no confidence he will 
oppose Biden's radical agenda to destroy our Second Amendment, which is 
not only unconstitutional but immoral and a threat to democracy. I 
oppose his nomination and I urge all senators to oppose this radical 
and his usurpation of Constitutional rights.

                          ____________________